News archive of December 2016

Hundreds Stranded on Roads after Chain Crashes Near Bulgaria's Burgas

Part of Trakia motorway and a bypass route leading into Burgas will remain closed at least until the afternoon on Saturday as heavy chain-reaction crashes have left the roads jammed since Friday evening.

Travelers are advised against using Trakia motorway after the Zimnitsa junction in eastern Bulgaria.

Russia hits ISIL in al-Bab on Turkish military intelligence

Russian military jets have hit Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets near al-Bab after receiving intelligence from the Turkish military.

The Turkish Armed Forces said on Dec. 30 Russian aircraft had carried out three air strikes against ISIL in the area of al-Bab and south of the town in northern Syria, killing 12 of the militants.

PM Yıldırım: Truce a base for lasting peace in Syria

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has described the truce reached between the Syrian regime and the opposition groups as a "base for negotiations on a lasting peace" in the war-torn country, reiterating Ankara's call for other prominent actors to join the Turkish-Russian efforts. 

Why are gold and foreign currency reserves decreasing?

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said last week that companies had a substantial foreign currency deficit and that they were working on curbing these. He said the current problem was managing the foreign currency gaps and that they were working on how to assist the private sector. 

Turkey and the Syrian refugee crisis: An example for humanity

Turkey opened its doors to Syrians and started granting them entry in April 2011. Since then, Turkey continues to allow Syrians to enter the country by strictly adhering to international law, particularly to the principle of non-refoulement. 

A year of unknowns

People made fun of it at the time, and long afterwards, but it's a nice way of expressing a very important distinction.

"As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know." 

Political immunity, the Turkish style

Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is accused of being involved in a corruption case by granting state tenders to a family friend/businessman in road building contracts. During the trial in Buenos Aires, the federal judge decided to freeze Kirchner's assets worth $633 million.

After our worst year ever

Before writing this piece, I looked back at my archives and checked what I had written in the final days of 2014 and 2015. It turned out that I was not happy with those previous years either. "After Turkey's horrible year," reads the title of my Dec. 30, 2014 column. "After yet another horrible year," reads the title of my Dec. 30, 2015 column. 

Five major areas of difficulty ahead of Turkey in 2017

We are leaving a very difficult year behind. Turkey and the Turkish people have witnessed worst ever coup attempt on July 15 in a direct attack on its fragile democracy by a group of pro-Gülen military personnel and other bureaucrats. 

Pages